Mumbai: Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor Rakesh Mohan, who quit the central bank in May to take up an assignment at the Stanford Center for International Development at Stanford University in the US, is now set to join global consultancy McKinsey and Co.’s economic research wing.

Mohan, 61, who had moved to Stanford Center as a distinguished consulting professor, will be a global adviser at the McKinsey Global Institute, or MGI. McKinsey and Co. is a management consulting firm that advises leading companies on issues such as strategy, organization, technology and operations.

The first deputy governor born after India’s independence in 1947, Mohan came to RBI in September 2002, but moved to the finance ministry as secretary, department of economic affairs, in October 2004 before his three-year term ended. He returned to RBI in July 2005 and left in June this year, seven months before his term was due to end.

Mohan, a former chief economic adviser to the finance minister, was seen as a strong contender for the top job at the Indian central bank when Y.V. Reddy retired in September, but was pipped to the post by D. Subbarao, then finance secretary.

Confirming the development, McKinsey said in an email on Saturday that he “will join the McKinsey Global Institute as a part-time global adviser starting this fall”. Fall is autumn in North American English.

Mohan said in an email: “I understand that you have got a statement from McKinsey’s. I am in full concurrence with that.”

Mohan’s assignment at Stanford was for six months, beginning 15 June, and it is not known whether he will cut short his stint.

Set up in 1990, MGI’s primary purpose is to undertake original research on critical economic issues facing businesses and governments around the world. Its research is funded by the partners of McKinsey and not commissioned by any business, government, or other institutions.

By integrating economics and management, MGI has insights into the microeconomic underpinnings of broad trends shaping the global economy.

As a global adviser, Mohan joins a long list of prominent academics providing insights and perspectives on a range of MGI research projects. Martin Baily, a senior fellow at the Institute of International Economics who headed former US president Bill Clinton’s council of economic advisers, is currently an MGI senior adviser.

Other academic advisers on recent projects include Richard Freeman of Harvard University and Olivier Blanchard, chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, on offshoring research, and Richard Cooper and Kenneth Rogoff, both of Harvard, on capital markets work.

The list of past advisers includes Diana Farrell, deputy director of the National Economic Council and deputy economic adviser in the administration of US President Barack Obama.

At RBI, Mohan was in charge of monetary policy, financial markets, economic research and statistics, secretary’s department and communication.

Recently, he headed the committee on financial sector assessment that conducted a stress test on the Indian financial system.

In an interview in end-May, Mohan said he drew comfort and optimism from the fact that fiscal and monetary measures taken by the government and RBI were working and said there was some room left for the government to provide more fiscal stimulus to bolster the economy. He also said there was scope for specific capital expenditure and accelerating projects that the government could identify in such sectors as roads and urban infrastructure.